Musical instrument



v Aug. 6, 1929. M, STElN 1,723,088

MUS ICAL INSTRUMENT INVEN TOR.

Y nTTORNEY.

I Allg. 6, 1929. M. STEJN 1,723,088

MUS I CAL IN STRUMENT Filed Dec.9, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 '@E-AH J l-M LY U V 4 LT1- I Pe O\ m vb Q @b O I9 g @f IN VEN TOR.

A mom/Ey.

Aug. 6, 1929'.

M. STEIN MUSICAL. INSTRUMENT Filed Dec. 9, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Figa.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Aug. 6, 1929. M STEIN.` 1,723,088

MUS ICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Deo. 9, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 -INVEN TOR.

Aug. s, 1929. M. STEIN 1,723,088

MUS ICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Dec. 9, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 "IN1/Emol@ fuwmMM A TTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 6, 1929.

MAX STEIN, F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Application led December 9, 1926.

The invention relates to musical instruments and more specially it relates to instruments commonly known as bird organs, such instruments being used for imitating the voice of singing birds, and also being used to teach young birds, for instance, young canary birds to sinfr. Apparatus of this type heretofore in use were mostly actuated and operated by water-power. In many l0 cases the modulation of the tune, that means the actual singing and trilling of the bird was also imitated by means of water. The apparatus, had the big disadvantage that they did take up too much space, that the 5 water during the operation of such an ap-A paratus would splash and wet the floor of the room wherein said apparatus was lo.- cated, and finally such apparatus was relatively expensive. All these (ilisadvantages are consequences of the construction of the apparatus known heretofore, and the ob]ect of the present invention is to provide an organ to teach young birds to sing and for imitating the singing voice and the melodies of singing birds, avoiding all the above named disadvantages of apparatus used for such purposes heretofore.

A further objectof the invention is to provide an apparatus of the above named type which is driven by any suitable motor, but which is actuated by compressed air.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the type mentioned, the construction whereof will make it possible to produce the apparat-us at a relatively low cost.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparat-us of the class mentioned occupying a relatively small space.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the type mentioned producing the intended results without the use of any medium or means which could in any way interfere with the use, for any other purposes, of the room in which the apparatus is located.

Other objects of the invention not specifically mentioned will be clearly and easily understood and ascertained from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of said description.

It is, however, to be understood that the present invention is not to be restricted or limitedv to the exact .construction described Serial No. 153,516.

in the specification and shown in the drawy ings, but'that such changes and alterations may be made as fall into the scope of the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings illustrating a preferrtulv embodiment of the invention Fig. 1 is a front view of the apparatus whereby a. part of the casing surrounding the apparatus is omitted.

Fig. 2 is a top View of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a view showing a portion of the apparatus in parallel perspective, and Fig. 5 is a section taken on line of Fig. l whereby the bellows have been removed entirely.

As stated above the present invention is mainly used to teach young canary birds to sing. In order to make it Vpossible to automatically imitate the singing of a good canary bird it is necessary to study the natural singing of such a bird, and close observation and study will teach that the bird will start, or so to say preface its song with some sounds which really cannotbe called singing, but in order to teach the young bird it is necessary to follow nature exactly, and to imitate said sounds also. For this purpose the apparatus accru-ding to the present invention is equipped with a device to produce these starting sounds, and this device shall herein be called a rattle. The rattle is shown best in Fig. 1. The rattle 5 con-- sists of a bottom plate 6, a back wall 7 and two triangular walls 8. These walls may be made from wood of any suitable kind and thickness. The box thus formed bv the walls named is closed by 'a `thin plate 9 extending from the outer edge of the bottom plate G to the upper edge of the back wall 7 and connecting the two side walls 8 with each other. This i-nclined front wall is really to be considered a diaphragm.

Near the upper edge of said diaphragm and approximately about the vertical center line of said front wall 9 an opening 10 is provided above said opening, that means between the upper edge of the opening and the upper edge of the diaphragm a spring 11 1s fastened to said diaphragm in any suitable manner, for instance by means of a. clamp 12. A wooden block 13 or the like is fastened to the under side of the spring 11 in such a manner that the wooden block 13 is located directly above the opening l0 so that said opening is normally closedby said wooden block. To the lower end of the spring 11V a weightv lll is fastened; This weight 11 serves a double purpose. For one thing it helps the spring 11 to force the wooden bl'och 13 against the diaphragm l9 in order to close the opening 10. The second purpose of the weight 14 is to rattle against the diaphragm and to produce thereby a sound which exactly imitates the introductory notes produced by a canary bird before starting its actual song. This rattling device is operated in the following manner.

A bellows 15'A is provide'd, the" actuation whereof shall be described later. This bellows discharges the air taken inby its upward movement and expelledv by its downward movement into a so-'called air box 16, through a connecting pipe 79 leading from the bottom of the bellows to said box. A pipe 17 leads from this air box 16 to the rattle 'and discharges air' expelled from the bellows into the rattle at 18; The air forced into the inside of the rattle will escape through the opening and will thereby lift the block 13 from ,said opening by forcing the spring 11 outwardly. As soonA as the air pressure in the rattle' will be deminished, the spring will move the block back into its al position, thereby closing'the opening 10 again. This back and forth movement of the block will be repeated in short intervals aslong air is discharged into the rattler. During the bach and forth movement of the wooden blocx 13 the little weight 14 at the endV of the spring 11 will hammer against the diaphragn'i 9 and will thereby, produce the desired sound effect.

ln Vordertolimity the time during which this starting sound is produced a certain device is provided which is to be described later.

ln orderto take in air the bellows have to be lifted, and this may be effected in different ways. In the embodiment shown in the drawing. the bellows are inclosed in a box or a frame having a basel plate 19, two lip-right wals andv 21 respectively, and atop plate 22. The rattle 5 is fastened `lo a part of the base plate 19 extending beyond the vertical plate 20 a lever 23 is pivotally mounted at 2l. Said lever has at each und a cam surface 26 and 27 respectively. lt the-bellows are lifted, either in the way io' be described later or in another suitable wav, the upper plate 28 of said bellows made of iron or another heavy metal,^will engage the cam surface 2G on the upperend of the lever and will force this end of the lever toward the inner side of the vertical plate 20. .Said vertical plate 2O is provided, ad]` acent the upper end of the lever 23, with an opening 29, and a pinx 30 pivot-ally mounted at 31' on the lever 23, extends through said hole: fr contact 32 is 'mounted on lation plate 33 is provided between said contact and the pin. On the outside of the upright plate 20 an insulation plate 34e is fastened carrying another Contact 35. The two contacts and 35 respectively are adapted to open and closeV Van electric circuit 36 in which an electric motor (not shown) is arranged. This motor is adapted to drive a pulley 37 mounted on a shaft 38 which is rotatably mounted on top of the plate 22 of the housing for the bellows. A second pulley 39 is mounted on the shaft 38 and the ribbon 40, or a belt or the like is fastened at one of its ends to said pulley and on the other end in any suitable way to the upper plate 28 of the bellows. The upper plate carries, preferably in its center, a rod' 4:1 extending upi'vardly from said plate and through a hele in, the upper plate 22 of the housing for the bellows. This arrangement prevents the bellows from wobbling sideways or cross ways durings the movement of said bellows.

In Fig. 1 the contacts 32 and 35 are shown in open position, so that the motor would be deenergized. The weight lof the top plate 28 of the bellows is forcing said bellows downwardly and forcing the air out of said bellows through the pipe 79 into the air box 16. This air box has a main channel 80 into which the air flows, which is forced from the bellows through t-he'pipe 79. The differentconnect-ions from this main channel 8O shall be described later.-

lVhen all the alii' is expelled from the bellows and the top plate 28 of said bellows is nearly on the end of its downward `movement, said top plate will engage the cam surface 27 at the lower end of the lever 23 and will force this end outwardly, that means toward the up-right plate 2O thereby moving the upper end of the llever 23 inwardly, so that the pin 30 will lbe moved through the hole 29, and the contact 32 will engage the contact 35, thereby closing the circuit- 36 and energizing the motor whichy is not shown, wherebythe pulley 37 will be driven in such a manner that the belt will be wound up on the pulley 39. ln this manner the bellows will be extended and Will of course take. in air. ils soon as the 'ellows are extended practically entirely, the' top plate 28 will engage the cam surface 26 on the upper end of lever 23 and will move away from the contact 35, and the circuit 36 will be broken. Thereby the mot-or, which is not shown, will be deenergized, so that the bellows canl again be forced downwardly by the weight of the top plate 28.

Alter the starting sound has been pro-- duced, the actual singing of the bird should be imitated. The song of the canary bird consists substantially in two parts, one is an even modulation of the tune, that means the outer end of the pin 36, and an insusimply-` a changing of the notes just like in any other limsi 'al production. The other part is the trilling of the bird, and this trilling is the hardest portion to imitate. In the devices for imitating the singing of a canary, known heretofore, the trilling` has been reproduced by the action of water. vln most cases air was forced through the water giving a pretty good imitation of the trilling` of the bird. To do away with the use of water and of the disadvantages connected therewith a device is provided which shall be calleiil a trembler. A drum 43 of thin wood or the like is rotatably suspended .in the following manner: A short pipe 44 penetrates the side wall 45 of the drum and is fastened therein. Said short pipe is inserted in the up-right wall 21 of the housing for the bellows, the outer end of the short pipe is surrounded by a cap 46 fastened to said up-right wall and a pipe 47 connects the interior of said cap with the main channel 80 of the -air box 16, so that air .from said box can enter through the pipe 47 into the trembler. t is to be noted that the axis of the pipe 44 coincides with the axis of the drum. The outer end of this short pipe 48 is rotatably journaled in a cap 50 fastened to and carried by a pipe 5l. In this manner the drum is rotatably supported by the upright wall 21 and the pipe 51. The air which is pressed by the bellows into the main channel of the air box will travel, under certain conditions, which will be described later, through the second channel 81 communicating with the main channel 80 and the pipe 47, through said pipe 47 into the drinn, and out of the drum through the pipes 48 and 51. The pipe 51 communicates with the channel 82 traversing the air box 16. and conducting the air through a short pipe 83 into the whistle 52 which is shown best in Fig. 3. `This is a so-called modulation whistle of well-known construction. It is not necessary to describe this whistle in detail. because such whistles are not new and said whistle does not constitute a part of the present invention. The manner in which the modulation portion of this whistle will be actuated shall be described later. lVhenever air will be driven through the drum into the whistle the singing of the bird will be imitated.

In order to bring about the reproduction of the trilling during the singing the drum is provided with an interior wall 53 and this wall extends from the side wall 45 of the drum to the other side wall 49, thereby dividing the drum into two portions 54 and 55, respectively. The intake pipe 44 communi- :ates with the drum portion 55, and the outlet pipe with the drum portion 54. The connectionbet-ween the two drum portions is obtained by means of an opening 56 in the interior wall 53. On the upper surface of said interior Wall a spring 57 is fastened in a similar way as the spring 11 is fastened to the outer wall 9 of the rattle 5. A small wooden block 58 corresponding to the wooden block 13 of the rattle is arranged in such a manner as to cover and close the opening 56 when the drum is positioned as shown in Fig. 1. On the outer end of spring 57 a weight 59 is fastened pressing the block 58 down upon the interior wall 53, and helping the spring 57 to close the hole 56. On the side wall 45 of the drum a pin 6() is provided adjacent the circumference of the drum. A bell crank 61 is pivotally mounted at 62 on the upright wall of the housing of the bellows. The downwardly extending arm of the bell crank 61 is forked. Said fork straddles the pin 60. A cam 63 is fai'- tened to the shaft 38 and is positioned thereon in such a manner, that during rotation of the shaft the cam 63 will engage the horizontal arm of the bell crank 61. It is apparent that when the cam 63 engages said bell crank the latter will be pivoted. about the pin 62 and will thereby impart a rotary movement to the drum 43. During this movement the drum will get into a position where the weight 59 will not be located any more on top of the divided wall but will be located partly beneath said inner wall so that t-he weight will pull the block 58 away from the opening 56 thereby permitting the air entering the drum through the pipe 44 to pass freely through said hole and into the pipe 51 and the modulation whistle 52. During the time that the block 58 rests on the interior wall 53 and closes the hole 56 the air pressure will lift the block 58 from said hole in short intervals, so that short blasts of air will pass through said hole in very short time intervals, whereby the whistle will be actuated at shortly interrupted times and thereby the trilling sound intended is produced. The lower arm of the bell crank 61 is made somewhat longer and heavier than the horizontal arm thereof, so that the vertical arm tends to point downwardlyy whereby the drum will be positioned as shown in Fig. 1, when the horizontalv arm of the bell crank is disengaged from the cam 63.

The connection between the air box 16 and the rattle 5, as well as the connection between the drum 43 and the air box has to be opened and closed at predetermined times and for predetermined periods. For this purpose the air box is constructed in the following manner: The box really consists of the wooden block 16 in which different passages are drilled. The main passage 80 receives the end of the pipe 79 conducting the air from the bellows to the air box and this passa-ge is then connected with three distributing passages. One of said passages 84 communicates with the end of the pipe 17 connect-ing the air box with the rattle 5; another passage 8l communicates as lll) lill) stated above with the pipe A7 conducting the air from the box to the drum and the third passage 85 communicates with a short pipe 86 conducting air from the air boX to the final whistle 6st-, the purpose whereof shall be described' later'. Each one of these three channelsl distributing air from the main channel isA controlled by a valve permitting air to pass int-o said connecting pipes, when said valves are opened at certain predetermined times and for predetermined periods. Said valves are to be constructed alike, the descriptionl of one of these valves will sufice. One ofsa-id'valves is shown in Fig. 3. It consists of a spring blade pressing upwardly' and carrying a thin leather bolster or the like which is forced upwardly by the spring to close the mouth of the respectiveI channehrthereby interrupting the flow of the air' through said channel. 0n the wooden box encasing the whole 'apparatus three spring hangers 67 are fastened which carry on the circular shaped ends push rods 68. Said' push rods extendI into the air box 16 and touchr with the lower ends the leather bolster 66. On the shaft 38 a cam 69 is fastened and saidcam will, during the rotation of the shaft 38, engage one of the hangers 67 thereby pushing down the corresponding push rods 68 and opening the valve belong ing thereto. This valve controlled by the ca1n69 permits air to pass into the drum and from the drum into the modulation whistle, so that this cam really controls the actual singing part of the apparatus. A second cam 7 O is fastened also to the shaft 88 and actuates in the same manner as the cam 69, another valve of the type described. This valve controls the liow of the air to the rattl'er. It is easily understood that whenever the cam 70 engages the push rod pertaining thereto and opens thereby the corresponding valve, air will be permitted to enter the rattle and actuate the same. As soon as theJ cam 70 disengages the push rod, the valve will be closed, the passage of air will be interrupted and the rattle will be quiet. The third distributing passage controlled by the same vtype of valve is connectedas stated abovewith a so-called final whistle. kThis whistle is used to imitate the last notes or tunes of the song of a bird. Observation will teach that a bird will finish its song by repeating the same tune three or four times. For this purpose a third 4cam 71 is mounted on the shaft 38 and will engage one of the push rods 68 three or four times in succession opening the valve in short intervals, which governs the flow of air to the final whistle 64.

In order to bring about the imitation of the song of the bird the modulation whistle 52 of well-known construction is to be manipulated. The modulation part 7 3 is to be moved up' and downl thereby shortening or lengthening the air columns in the inside of the whistle and producing the different modulations of the song. This up and down movement is obtained in the following manner: A bracket 74 is fastened to the top plate 22 of the housing of the bellows and extends high enough above the shaft 38 to permit the different camsto pass underneath said bracket. On the end of the bracket an arm 7 5 is pivotally mounted, which carries adjacent its end a second movable arm 76. This arm in turn carries the modulation part 78 of the'whistle by means of a cord or cable 77. A modulation cam 78 is mounted on the shaft 88 and engages the arm 75, moving said arm up and down while rotating with the shaft 88. Thissecond arm 76 serves only to adjust the key in which this melody will be reproduced.

The above description shows plainly, that the apparatus according to the invention is adapted to reproduce the song of a canary bird or for that matter of any other song bird by inserting a corresponding modulation cam. The cams as well as the whole apparatus can be easily and cheaply manufactured. A very small motor will serve to drive the apparatus, respectively lift the bellows so that a very efficient device of the desired class is provided at a comparatively low price.

IVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a device of the class described a bellows, means for `expanding said bellows, a

weight on top of the bellows for expelling the air taken in, a whistle, a pipe connecting the bellows with the whistle, a drum inserted in said pipe and rotatably mounted, an interior wall in said drum dividing it in two separate chambers, the one portion ofthe pipe communicating with the one chamber, and the other portion of the pipe communieating with the other chamber, an opening in said interior wall permitting the air from the bellows to pass from one chamber of the drum to the other, a spring fastened to the interior wall, means on said spring for closing the opening in the wall, and a weight on said spring normally forcing said means onto the interior -wall for closing said opening, said weight being adapted to remove said closure means'from the opening during a certain portion of the rotation of the drum. y

2. In a device of the class described a bellows adapted to take in air and expel the same, a rattle consisting of a closed box, a pipe leading the air expelled by the bellows into said rattle, one of the walls of the boX having an opening therein, a spring fastened to said wall, a closure block carried by said spring and adapted to close said opening and a hammer on the free end of the spring, the airforced into 'the rattle being 'adapted llO 'to lift the closure block from the opening' and the weight of the hammer and the tension of the spring forcing said block back into closing position and bringing the hammer into contact with said wall of the box.

3. In a device of the class described a bellows, means for expanding said bellows, said bellows being adapted to collapse under the pressure of its own weight, a shaft driven in one direction by the means for expanding t-he bellows and rotated in the other direction by the weight of the bellows, a rattle, a modulation whistle and a second whistle, a Control box, a pipe leading from the bellows to the control box, a second pipe leading from the control box to the rattle, a valve Controlling the admission of the air from the control box into the pipe leading to the rattle, means controlled by the rotation of the shaft for regulating the opening and closing of said Valve, another pipe leading from the control box to the second whistle, a valve cont-rolling the entrance of air in said last named pipe and means controlled by rotation of the shaft for opening' said valve at predeterminate times, a third pipe leading' from the control box to the' modulation whistle, a drum inserted in said last named pipe, said drum being rotatably mounted, means for controlling the flow of air through said drum, means controlled by the rotation of the shaftfor imparting at predeterminate times, a partial rotation to said drum, and a Valve controlled by the rotation of said shaft and controlling the admission ot air to the drum.

4. In a device of the class described a bellows, a modulation whistle, a pipe conneet- I ing said whistle with said bellows, a shaft adapted to be rotated by the movement oit the bellows, a cam on said shaft, an arm pivotally mounted and supporting the extensible portion of the modulation whistle, said arm resting on said cam and said arm and said portion being adapted to be lifted and lowered by the rotation of said cam.

Vitness whereof I affix hereto my signat-ure.

MAX STEIN. 

